THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON AGRI-FOOD ENTERPRISES IN THE PELOPONNESE REGION

Abstract

When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, it affected the economic and social life of people worldwide. This paper aims to investigate the problems arising from the pandemic in the production process of 405 agri-food enterprises including producers (farmers, livestock farmers, fishermen), processors/micro, small, and medium agri-food enterprises located in a predominantly rural area of Greece, the Peloponnese region. The data were obtained by a detailed online questionnaire survey (quantitative analysis). According to the analysis of the results, it was found that the responses regarding the distribution of products, were almost equally divided between low and high difficulty. Furthermore, despite the increased production costs by implementing sanitary protocols, the agri-food enterprises absorbed it internally and did not pass it through the price of the product. Both the quantity and the quality of produced foodstuffs were practically hardly affected. Also, agri-food enterprises have not been seriously affected by product loss and waste. Furthermore, lockdowns are contributing to labor shortages for agriculture enterprises, particularly those characterized by periods of peak seasonal labor demand. The usage of e-shops was limited and almost half of the enterprises were not satisfied with State funding. The uncertain economic environment creates insecurity among producers and agri-food entrepreneurs for sustainability and future investments. Local and regional authorities together with the State must take relief measures to provide financial support to producers and agri-food entrepreneurs, so that the food supply chain functions properly and we do not face a food crisis